“La Maison” is a show whose executive producer Alex Berger says he wants to portray “fantastical environments,” but people don’t understand how they work. Specifically through his new Apple TV+ series, he wants to show that, despite all its glamour, the fashion industry works like any other: It’s not the hemlines, but the bottom line that keeps us inspired from one season to the next. Season.
It’s a bit like Inheritance. In the pilot episode of “La Maison,” rich plots and subplots are the plot. When one brother plots to overthrow the other at the family fashion company, a ruthless self-made fashion executive plots to take over the long-established family business. Does the show have the wonderful, clever, charming dialogue of Succession? Absolutely not — but it does showcase the fragile world of the super-rich through a well-chosen cast. (It’s rare to see Alaïa, Haider Ackermann and a retro Claude Montana look so fabulous on screen.) “La Maison” is dramatic, even soapy, but in the frothy world of shows like “Emily in Paris,” that could be considered an Aesop opera. What’s more: It gets a lot of things right.
We’ve found out what’s real and what’s fake about Apple TV+’s LaMaison.
Do fashion brands destroy unsold clothes? Fact.
In the first episode, we see Paloma Castell (Zita Hanrot) and Ye-ji (Park Jimin), partners at Berlin-based inclusive brand Doppel, raid a clothing disposal/incineration facility, where they find two discarded items, looking for clothes.
In fact, luxury and fast-fashion brands alike have participated in the controversial and extremely wasteful practice of burning unsold goods – and yes, this includes luxury handbags and shoes. The rationale for luxury brands is that it’s better to destroy unsold items rather than make them look cheaper by marking them up or sending them to specialty stores. For fast-fashion chains, on the other hand, there are tax benefits in some cases from burning excess merchandise rather than storing it.
The European Environmental Agency reports that “It has been estimated that 4% to 9% of all textiles sold on the European market are destroyed before use, which represents a loss of 264,000 to 594,000 tonnes of textiles each year.”
Does the brand use scrap fabric from other brands? Fact.
Early in the morning we saw a double fashion show at La Maison, showcasing costumes made from old Ledu & Rovel pieces recycled from the aforementioned incineration plant.
In real life, many designers are working with deadstock (or unsold yardage) fabric. Doppel points to real-life brands such as New York’s Collina Strada, Paris’ Marine Serre, and London’s Chopova Lowena as the first brands to make extensive use of deadstock materials. There are also brands that intentionally make clothes from repurposed fabrics: Liliw’s jackets, for example, are made from Hermès silk and terry cloth.
Do fashion CEOs really avoid advertising from their competitors? It’s fiction (probably).
We first meet Diane Rowell (Carole Buge) while on her way to a conference. Rowell is the (extremely wealthy) head of a fashion conglomerate such as LVMH, and Mrs. Rowell is driven around Paris by a driver with explicit instructions to travel only through Rowell’s advertisements. No advertising billboards for their competitor Ledu should be visible. (To really understand this, if Rowell is the LVMH style, then Ledu could be compared to Chanel or Hermès – neither of which are outside the bustling matrix of the luxury fashion brand conglomerate. Therefore, Ledu is Mrs. Rowell’s white whale.)
Although we cannot say for sure whether fashion executives are protected from competitors’ advertisements by their drivers, we can say that traveling in the city seems extremely inefficient and long for people. What is time apart from money?
Will the designers be fired and asked to resign? Truth.
This seems obvious. After it went viral on the internet, people demanded that he resign as creative director of LeDue. It’s a familiar story reminiscent of John Galliano’s fall from grace and subsequent exit from Christian Dior in 2011. In fact, La Maison even referenced this real-life incident: a viewer of LeDue’s clip commented: “LeDue just copied Galliano.”
Will designers hold retrospective fashion shows? Fact.
Even though Vincent Ledoux’s decision was overturned by the court of public opinion, he continued to stage the world’s most ill-timed retrospective fashion show. In an interview with Askum, La Maison costume designer Karin Sarfati explained how she staged an entire fashion show for the company Ledu using lace from renowned lace makers such as Sophie Hallet, Solstice and Hurel. “It was important to put together clothes that could be from different decades,” Sarfati said of the final collection.
The designer is known for retrospective shows that relaunch his collections to mark anniversaries or commemorate his tenure. Check out fashion designer Giambattista Valli’s retrospective during Fashion Week in July 2022, or the Kim x Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 collection, which draws on D&G pieces from 1987 to 2007.
Does a designer feel pressured to showcase his collections after being appointed a creative director? This is a myth.
In the third episode of La Maison, Paloma Castell replaces Vincent Ledu and launches her first series a few days later. Have we not had a Ledu retrospective yet? Why is another Fashion Week coming up again? While theoretically real-life French fashion and ready-to-wear brands like Ledu show more often than strictly ready-to-wear brands, the race to launch Castell’s first collection is moving very fast. Assuming the Ledu retrospective takes place during July Fashion Week, Ledu will not show another collection until Paris Fashion Week in October. That’s almost three months!
Do designers also have domestic inspiration, like Vincent LeDue had with Pearl Foster? Fact.
Vincent Ledoux didn’t have to close his eyes to imagine the ideal Ledoux woman she wanted in the studio with him. Although Pearl Foster (played brilliantly by Amira Cassar) strives for her well-deserved title of art director, at this point she’s merely an inspiration – inspiring Vincent with her indescribable ideas and keeping the designer on track. Domestic inspiration has long been a resource for some of history’s greatest design talents. Yves Saint Laurent owns Lulu de la Falaise. Azzedine Alaa owns Farida Khelfa. Holsten owns Elsa Peretti. Karl Lagerfeld owns Amanda Harlech. These inspirations may not be able to design themselves, but what they lack in technical skill they make up for in visuals.
